The paper aims at the presentation of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231)
as a role model for the 16th-18th century literary audience in Poland, especially
women. The period hagiographical sources (lives of saints, sermon examples)
tend to promote the saint as an exemplary representative of three states of
life as a maid, wife and widow. The three mentioned dimensions of Elizabeth’s
sainthood make the heroine a universal, multipurpose patroness, fully acceptable
as a source of Christian perfection for the Polish post-Trent laity.717919
